Product Description

This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit, Frodo Baggins, and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. All three titles in their extended editions are packaged together: "The Lord Of The Rings Motion Picture Trilogy Special Extended DVD Edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-10
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 12
• Formats: PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 12
• Running time: 681 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 12 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi

Synopsis
Peter Jackson's suitably massive interpretation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. All three huge, action-packed movies in one box. See individual titles from Entertainment in Video for greater detail.

Customer Reviews

Genuine quality, genuine bargain.
I am genuinely stunned by this package; to get this whole box set with 6 discs of extras for under twenty quid is just amazing. I've watched all the extra discs and they're a real insight to the making of the trilogy. Peter Jackson and his team have gone to great effort to create a special edition of LotR for DVD, not just the original release with the cuts put back in.
Be warned though, that there are spoilers in the extra discs so don't watch them first if you don't want to know what happens; they've added a whole lot more that they had to leave out of the original cinematic release.
Of course, the Blu-Ray version will be even better, but apparently it's not due anytime soon.
So get this fantastic bargain now!

Inspiring Epic of Former (or Future?) Times
When first dragged by my wife to see the cinema releases of the three films, years ago, I went like a snail unwillingly but really enjoyed them. Since then, we acquired the VHS versions of the same and watched them about once annually. This extended version, however, is so much better, fleshing out some of the characters and some of the story-line.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was once called, by a German friend of mine (who never saw it!), "poor man's Wagner" and it is true that there are elements of the "Ring of the Nibelungen" in Tolkien's epic tale (which, perhaps, was why Jewish groups apparently attacked the first of these films on release, Wagner having believed that Jews were trying to dominate the world by the money power). Some elements are obviously similar (the ring itself, the fight of good against evil, various types of entities such as men, gods, dwarves etc), but this is more than a mere copy of Richard Wagner's masterworks. It stands perfectly well alone and is magnificent throughout. Recommended, especially in the extended version.

sheer delight for a deeply engrossed fan
I first read LotRs in 1975 and have been totally absorbed in Tolkien's related writings ever since to the most excessive level.

These films do the greatest honour to a fabulous mythical history. No more need be said of them which has not already been said but a word or two of the appendices; absolutely gigantic!!! It is barely conceivable just how enormous these deeply informative additional films are.

Highlights for me: the three films containing erudite contributions about the development of Tolkien's ideas and their wonderful incorporation into his books and the startingly exhaustive study of the creation of the soundtrack, surely a first...

All in all, a titanic achievement